SW and Wales 2010

Despite nearly coming unstuck at the very end of my set at the South West and Wales heat of the UKBC this year with a spill of a signature drink (I really don’t have much luck with sig drinks!), I somehow still managed to pull off a great result with 2nd place, and Best Cappuccinos! I was much happier with my capps this year, both in terms of texture, and latte art (managing to pour quite nicely formed, symmetrical little rosettas on each one – not brilliant ones, but neat enough under pressure!), and so it was lovely to win the category.

It’s also nice to be able to bring something back that can help to promote what we try to do as a cafe as well (and which gives people something to point and laugh at! …Still not entirely sure why they do that, but the whole thing seems to tickle ’em, and it lightens the mood, so it’s all good!).

It’s the nature, and part of the beauty, of speciality coffee to be seasonal and of limited availability, and in this case, it also means that the washed Wotona Coop Sidamo in my blend is no more! If I were lucky enough to go through to semifinals therefore, the blend would need to be redesigned …but hopefully this would only mean positive alterations!

Comically, I spent quite some time soaking and Brillo-ing my Mottas the previous weekend (thinking *this really is just over-obsessive; they won’t expect them to be factory-clean!*), only to be marked down for ‘dirty pitchers’..? Hmmm… sandblasting perhaps?

A useful point to learn was that a rosetta is upside down if the leaf tip is pointing towards you, so now I’m aware of this, I’ll try to remember reverse them in the future.